F350/PC at Cadwell Park, Report
- Details
- Category: F350 and Post Classic
- Created on Saturday, 23 July 2011 11:22
- Published on Saturday, 23 July 2011 11:22
- Written by John Moulton
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Round 4 Cadwell Park, Lincolnshire
Mixed weather and difficult tyre choices faced the FSRA Post Classic and F350 sidecar crews at the Auto 66 Club meeting at Cadwell Park on 19th June.
A combination of adverse weather and reliability problems saw Dave Cheesmond/Smudge Taylor (BSK Windle) close the gap on F350 Championship leaders, Gordon and Julie Jones (TZ350). Two wins from three starts for Stuart Mellor/Mick Fairhurst (Martek TZ750) did their Post Classic Championship hopes no harm at all!
Race one was held in very wet conditions, with standing water and spray making racing very challenging. In the F350 class, Dave Smith/Ben Weston (D&D Windle) made a great start, taking the lead from the flag, initially from championship leaders, Gordon and Julie Jones. Recovering from a poor start, Cheesmond made a daring overtake on Jones into Hall Bends to move into second place.
Cheesmond closed on Smith, but couldn't get near enough to execute a safe pass, so Smith gave the new D&D chassis its first win, 0.66 seconds ahead of his business partner. Jones was not enjoying the conditions, but he rode a calculated race to take third, ahead of Merv Noble/Keith Brotherton (350 HamYam). Such was the pace of the leading 350's in trying conditions that both Smith and Cheesmond finished ahead of all the Post Classic crews!
In the Post Classic class, Pat Gallagher/Sean Rooney (Derbyshire Suzuki) led from the start and showed that they were masters of the conditions, pulling away to finish seven seconds ahead of a very happy Chris & Gary Fairhurst (Kawasaki 1100). Stuart Mellor/Mick Fairhurst had to settle for third,(due to problems with a sticking throttle) some distance ahead of Ed Taylor/Ian Breakall (Suzuki GS1000). Dave Tibbles/Wayne Kemp (Kawasaki Z900) were in contention for fourth place until the engine sprocket came loose! Race two was a six lapper and it took place in drying conditions, but a number of crews elected to stay on wet tyres due to standing water in some areas. Gallagher headed the Post Classics from the start but, by lap two, Mellor had taken the lead, surging ahead to win by eleven seconds. Tony and Neil Wheatley (Ireson TZ750) had a good ride to third place, ahead of Fairhurst. The F350 field was depleted as winner of race one, Smith had an engine seizure on the slowing down lap of that race.
Jones proved to be much more confident in the drying conditions and he steadily pulled away from Cheesmond, finishing some nine seconds ahead. As Noble retired with ignition problems and Alan Longshaw/John Longbottom (Ireson YPVS) seized on lap three, there were no other F350 finishers.
Longshaw, Smith and Noble were unable to effect repairs before the final race, so the only F350's to set out on the sighting lap were Jones and Cheesmond. Disaster struck the usually reliable Jones outfit as it cut onto one cylinder and failed to make the start. Cheesmond couldn't believe his luck and he had a steady ride to claim maximum points. Mellor made another flying start in the Post Classic class, easing away from Gallagher to take the victory by 25 seconds. Fairhurst and Wheatley had a great scrap for third in class, with Wheatley taking the position by 0.5 seconds.
Taylor had a lonely ride to fourth and Tibbles was a distant fifth. Stuart Mellor will be hoping to take this form with him to the next round at Oulton Park on July 9th, whilst Dave Cheesmond might just be praying for rain!